


Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood

by Iknowyouknowleeknow



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: 3racha is a debuted group in this, M/M, chan isn't in it but he's mentioned, minho is also bin's best friend from pre debut, there's a big misunderstanding between bin and sung and minho, woojin is their stylist and minho is a makeup artist
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-15
Updated: 2019-07-15
Packaged: 2020-06-29 05:27:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19823491
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Iknowyouknowleeknow/pseuds/Iknowyouknowleeknow
Summary: “You’re staring again.”Minho didn’t bother taking his eyes off of Jisung as he shrugged, no longer caring if he got caught. He been snapping his gaze away for months, every time Changbin pointed it out, but Minho decided a few days ago that it didn’t matter. Jisung was famous, he was used to people staring at him. Minho’s eyes wouldn’t make any difference.“He never notices anyway,” Minho mumbled, his fingers closing around the compact he had been rooching through his makeup bag for. He pulled it out and finally returned his attention to Changbin, dusting the light powder across his friend’s pretty skin as Changbin frowned at him. “Don’t look at me like that.”“Your crush on him, it’s not…” Changbin trailed off, searching for the right word as Minho grabbed an eyeshadow pallet and a small brush. “It’s not healthy.”“I know,” Minho packed a dark shadow on the brush as Changbin closed his eyes, tilting his face upwards. Minho drew the shadow across his lash line, forcing himself to focus on the task at hand and not Jisung’s laughter as it echoed around the small waiting room. “He doesn’t even know my name.”





	Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood

**Author's Note:**

> it's been a minute, sorry about that  
> the internet at my house isn't working so that's fun  
> I came to the library to write this and I felt weird doing it the whole time  
> sorry if it feels disjointed I wrote half of it yesterday on my phone and then finished it today on my laptop and writing on my phone is always weird and I don't like doing it and I never feel connected to the story when I do things that way

“You’re staring again.”

Minho didn’t bother taking his eyes off of Jisung as he shrugged, no longer caring if he got caught. He been snapping his gaze away for months, every time Changbin pointed it out, but Minho decided a few days ago that it didn’t matter. Jisung was famous, he was used to people staring at him. Minho’s eyes wouldn’t make any difference.

“He never notices anyway,” Minho mumbled, his fingers closing around the compact he had been rooching through his makeup bag for. He pulled it out and finally returned his attention to Changbin, dusting the light powder across his friend’s pretty skin as Changbin frowned at him. “Don’t look at me like that.”

“Your crush on him, it’s not…” Changbin trailed off, searching for the right word as Minho grabbed an eyeshadow pallet and a small brush. “It’s not healthy.”

“I know,” Minho packed a dark shadow on the brush as Changbin closed his eyes, tilting his face upwards. Minho drew the shadow across his lash line, forcing himself to focus on the task at hand and not Jisung’s laughter as it echoed around the small waiting room. “He doesn’t even know my name.”

Changbin cracked an eye, but shut it quickly when Minho glared at him, “He knows your name. You’ve worked with us since debut, of course he knows your name.”

“He called me Minwoo yesterday,” Minho carefully lined the other eye, then tapped Changbin’s shoulder, indicating that he needed his friend to look up. He did so and Minho quickly added a dash of smoke to his lower lash line as well. When Changbin’s gaze met his head on, it was SpearB looking back at him, not his best friend. Minho closed the pallet and dropped it back into his bag, already regretting letting that information slip as Changbin’s whole face darkened.

“He knows your name,” Changbin repeated firmly, his gaze wandering to where his group-mate was giggling with one of their backup dancers. “That little shit is messing with you. He knows.”

“My name? Or my feelings?”

“Both,” Changbin rose from his chair, eyes still locked on the boy across the room, but Minho stopped him from moving with a hand on his arm.

“Leave it,” Minho let his hand drop, knowing his friend would listen to him even if he hated doing it. “Don’t cause any trouble.”

“I’m going to kill him.”

Minho rolled his eyes and turned back to his makeup kit, fusing around just for the sake of doing something, “You love him and you know it. You wouldn’t hurt him.”

“But he’s hurting you,” Changbin reached out and grabbed Minho’s chin, forcing the older boy to face him as he searched his gaze. Minho stared back at him defiantly, not letting any pain show in his eyes. Truthfully, he had yet to process the fact that Jisung knew about his secret longing and was using it to mess with him, but Changbin didn’t need to know that. Let him think that Minho accepted it and was unbothered. He could hold in the tears until he was home alone. 

“I’m fine, Bin,” Minho slapped his hand away and went back to zipping up his case. “Like you said, it was an unhealthy crush anyway. I needed to get over it.”

“Not like that though,” Changbin’s eyes flicked back to Jisung, steely in their anger. “That’s just cruel.”

“Maybe it was an honest mistake,” Minho wanted to believe the words he was saying, but Changbin’s fury was palpable, wrapping its way around Minho’s own thoughts as he snuck a quick peek at the boy he’d been pining over for a year. 

Just like always, Jisung’s gaze stayed firmly away from his, and if he felt Minho’s eyes on him, he did nothing to show it.

-

“I can’t believe I called him Minwoo,” Jisung collapsed on the couch in his dressing room, pouting up at Woojin as the older boy sorted through the rack of clothes near the door. “Could I have been anymore of an idiot?”

“Probably,” Woojin tossed a pair of leather pants and a shirt at Jisung, landing the clothes on the rapper’s head. “Put those on and stop whining about your dumb crush.”

“Rude,” Jisung huffed, but he stood up and wiggled out of his sweats anyway, tugging on the outfit Woojin had thrown at him. “How come my crush on Minho is dumb but your crush on Chan is totally acceptable?”

“I don’t have a crush on Chan,” Woojin focused his attention on picking out some accessories, but Jisung knew his stylist well enough to see the soft blush on his cheeks. “Besides, everyone knows Minho has a thing for you, so your crush is dumb because it’s reciprocated and you’ve still done nothing about it.”

“You don’t know that for sure,” Jisung tucked his t-shirt into his pants and accepted the belt Woojin held out for him, threading it through the loops as the older boy fixed him with a pointed look. Jisung pouted, “What? You don’t!”

“He spends more time staring wistfully at you than he does doing Bin’s makeup.” Woojin selected a thick silver necklace and draped it around Jisung’s neck, clasping it in place as Jisung finished buckling the belt. “I’ve never seen someone pine as obviously as he does.”

“Just because he stares at me doesn’t mean anything,” Jisung fiddled with the necklace, not enjoying the cold weight of it around his neck. The metal, coupled with Woojin’s stare and the topic of discussion, felt like it was choking him. 

He was well aware of how much time Minho spent looking at him. The burn of the older boy’s gaze was always hot and it took everything Jisung had not to lift his head and meet it, knowing how ridiculously red his face would be if he ever did. He chose to do his staring during the few times when Minho’s focus was elsewhere. Which was mostly when Minho was doing Bin’s eyeshadow. 

There wasn’t much reason for Jisung and Minho to actually interact, as Jisung had his own makeup artist, but the day before they had both ended up at the vending machine in the hallway, Jisung turning to leave just as Minho approached.

Flustered and unprepared, Jisung had accidentally called his crush by the wrong name, his nerves besting him the second Minho offered him a soft smile. He’d seen the way the smile fell at the incorrect name, but was too embarrassed to do anything more than brush past the older boy and return to the waiting room with trembling hands. 

“Ask Bin,” Woojin dumped a handful of rings into Jisung’s palm, letting the younger boy decide what fingers he wanted them on. “I’m sure Minho talks to him about you.”

“Minho’s his best friend,” Jisung slipped his favorite skull ring onto his pointer finger, frowning down at it. “He won’t just tell me what Minho says.”

“He might if you tell him that you have feelings for Minho,” Woojin kicked a pair of Doc Martens towards Jisung. “Or, if he won’t tell you anything, he might tell Minho what you said, and then Minho will know it’s okay to make a move.”

“I’m not just going up to Changbin and telling him that I have a crush on his best friend,” Jisung shoved his feet into the boots and laced them tightly, a little panicked just at the thought of spewing his secret. “He’d probably kill me.”

“Changbin is so soft for you it’s honestly disgusting,” Woojin rolled his eyes and tugged open the door. “He won’t be mad at you. But feel free to stew in your crush as long as you want, I just don’t want to hear about it anymore.”

-

Minho’s hands tightly gripped the arms of his chair, white knuckled as he struggled to breathe. The company man on the other side of the desk was still droning on, oblivious to Minho’s panic as he monotonously explained why there was no need for two makeup artists.

“There are only three members, surely you can handle that on your own?”

Minho snapped back to attention long enough to nod, the man behind the desk dismissing him with a flick of his hand. Minho stumbled to his feet and managed to make it into the hallway before a wave of panic overtook him, his body automatically headed for Bin’s studio. 

He pushed inside without knocking and his best friend took one look at him before he was on his feet, grabbing Minho’s upper arms as his eyes searched the older boy’s, “What happened? What’s wrong?”

“They fired Eli,” Minho managed to choke out, letting Changbin push him down into the rapper’s vacant chair. “I have to do everyone’s makeup now. I have to do Jisung’s makeup now.”

It had been three days since Minho’s longtime crush had started to crash and burn around him, and the last place he wanted to be was anywhere near Jisung. He couldn’t even look at him now that he knew Jisung was mocking his feelings. There was no way he’d be able to talk to him, to touch him. 

“I won’t let him hurt you. I’ll kill him,” Changbin, despite his raspy voice and dark style, wasn’t actually threatening in any way, but Minho knew his friend meant it. He offered him a shaky smile and accepted the hug that Bin pulled him into, clutching desperately at his friend’s shirt as he tried to hold himself together.

-

Jisung took a deep breath, running his sweaty palms along his jeans as he stared at himself in the mirror. He’d just been informed that Minho (Minho!) would be taking over as his makeup artist, and he was already spiraling into full blown panic. 

Last time he’d tried to interact with Minho, he’d called him by the wrong name and ran away, but this time he couldn’t escape if he did anything stupid. He was going to have to sit there while Minho spoke to him and touched him and made him pretty. 

Jisung blinked at himself in the mirror, suddenly cursing his face. He’d always liked his face, but now that Minho was going to see it up close and makeup free, he couldn’t help but only focus on his imperfections. He had a bit of a breakout on his chin, a few bumps on both cheeks, a scar on his forehead that Minho had never been near enough to see and his skin was already turning a blotchy red from embarrassment. Minho may have been content to stare at him from across the room before, but he wouldn’t want to once he saw what Jisung really looked like. 

So caught up in his own mind, Jisung didn’t noticed Changbin until the other boy’s reflection loomed in the mirror over Jisung’s narrow shoulder. He turned towards his friend and saw that Changbin looked angry, his jaw clenched as he stared at Jisung.

“If you do anything to him, I’ll kill you.”

Jisung swallowed hard, unused to the sharp bite of Changbin’s words. He briefly wondered if Woojin had betrayed him, had told Changbin about his crush on Minho, but decided it didn’t really matter how he’d found out. Changbin knew, and he didn’t approve.

Jisung nodded hastily, but Changbin’s stare didn’t soften. Jisung’s voice cracked when he spoke, “I won’t even talk to him. I swear.”

Changbin pointed to his eyes then to Jisung, indicating that he’d be watching, before he took off across the room. Jisung’s palms were even sweatier now and he pressed them against his dark jeans again, taking deep breaths as he tried to get his emotions back under control. Facing Minho was going to be difficult enough on its own, but now Jisung also had Changbin’s threats hanging over his head. 

He’d just managed to stop the shaking in his fingers when Minho wandered over, not sparing Jisung much of a glance as he dropped his makeup kit onto the counter in front of the mirror.

Jisung kept his eyes on his lap as Minho began tugging things out of his bag, too nervous to speak, even without Changbin’s warning.

Minho turned suddenly, not meeting Jisung’s eyes, “Is your hair done?”

Jisung shook his head slightly and Minho hummed, holding out a knotted bandana to the younger boy. Jisung took it, glancing from it to Minho until the older boy gestured that he should put it on.

“To keep your hair off your face.”

“Oh,” Jisung slipped the headband on, pushing his burgundy bangs off his forehead as Minho turned away from him again. Jisung took the opportunity to study him this time, noting the rigid set of the makeup artist’s shoulders. He seemed tense, nothing like the laughing boy Jisung was used to sneaking glances at across the room. He wondered if Changbin had told Minho about his feelings, and now the older boy was uncomfortable being close to him. Jisung shrunk in on himself, his imagination quickly getting away from him. He should have known that Minho’s staring didn’t mean anything.

Minho spun to face him again, a cushion foundation in his hand. His eyes briefly flicked up to Jisung’s before dancing away and he mumbled, “I’m going to touch you now. Is that okay?”

“Y-yeah,” Jisung pressed his legs together, his hands tangled tightly in his lap as he scooted to the very edge of his chair. 

Minho tapped the cushion against the product, then set the compact down and slipped his fingers under Jisung’s chin. He tilted the younger boy’s face up and began applying the foundation, awkward silence hanging heavily in the air.

Jisung knew he had promised Changbin he wouldn’t speak to his best friend, but he suddenly couldn’t help himself. A little voice in his head had offered him a new explanation for Minho’s discomfort. Maybe it had nothing to do with Jisung’s feelings. Maybe it was because of what happened the other day.

“I’m sorry,” he blurted, startling Minho, who pulled back and furrowed his brows in confusion. “About messing up your name.”

Minho’s hand hovered in the air between them and Jisung found the need to fill the silence with words, blabbering uncontrollably, “I know your name is Minho, obviously I know that, but I just...I turned around and you were right there! You’re never that close to me! And my brain backfired and, I don’t know, I jumbled up your name and Woojin’s and then I felt like such an idiot that I just had to get out of there. I should have apologized to you then, you must think I’m such an asshole, that I don’t know your name even though you’ve worked with us forever, and I’m really sorry for making you feel unimportant. That’s why you’re being weird and stiff, right? Because you think I’m a jerk?”

“I...what?”

Jisung flushed as Minho stared at him, glad that the thin cover of makeup the older boy had applied to his skin was hiding most of the blotchiness of his blush. He took a deep breath and repeated his apology, a bit slower, “You’re acting weird, and I know we don’t really know each other that well, but I’ve been around you enough to know this isn’t like you, and I just thought maybe it was because of what I said the other day. You probably think I’m an entitled asshole who didn’t even bother to learn your name, which isn’t true, I just...I got flustered and I messed up and now you hate me and I don’t want you to hate me.”

The longer Minho stared at him without speaking, the more Jisung’s panic built back up, and he was suddenly word vomiting again, “Or maybe that’s not what this is about. Maybe you talked to Woojin, or Changbin talked to Woojin, or I don’t know, maybe no one talked to Woojin but you found out anyway and now you’re all weird around me because you know I have a crush on you and it’s making you uncomfortable and I’m sorry.”

He clapped his hands over his mouth as his brain suddenly caught up to what he was saying, eyes wide with horror as Minho mouthed the word _crush._

It was obvious from the way Minho was looking at him that he’d had no idea and Jisung had just spilled his own secret.

Unable to get out of the chair with Minho standing right in front of it, Jisung sunk low and buried his face in his hands, tugging his knees up in an effort to block himself from the embarrassment he was feeling.

“Now would be a great time for Changbin to come murder me for talking to you.”

Minho laughed, bright, happy and relieved, and Jisung lifted his head slightly to see the older boy absolutely beaming at him, cheeks flushed a pretty pink and eyes dancing, “I like you too. If all the staring wasn’t obvious.”

Jisung cautiously lowered his legs, ready for Minho to tag on a _just joking_ or _gotcha_ , but the older boy looked sincere as he continued to grin at Jisung. 

“I, um, I told Changbin, when you called me by the wrong name, and he thought you knew about my crush, because, well, everyone knows about my crush, and he thought you called me by the wrong name to mock me, to show that you weren’t interested, cause he said you did know my name. And I didn’t think you would be that mean, but he seemed really insistent and I don’t know, he got me believing it too, and that’s why I was acting weird around you.”

“Oh,” Jisung breathed, his heart sinking in his chest when he realized just how bad the timing of his name mishap had been. “We had just watched that episode of Parks and Rec where Ron Swanson said he calls people by the wrong name to show them that he doesn’t care. Changbin must have thought…”

The two boys glanced at each other and dissolved into laughter, the whole situation suddenly seeming hilarious now that the misunderstanding was out of the way. Jisung’s fingers clutched the arms of his chair and Minho braced himself with his hands on Jisung’s knees, their hysterical giggles echoing around the room as a few tears leaked down Jisung’s cheeks.

Changbin was on them in a second, but he paused at the edge of their little cluster, his eyes dancing between the two of them as they struggled to catch their breath. 

Minho waved him away, hiccuping out a _we’re fine_ before his eyes locked with Jisung’s and they both broke down again, the ridiculousness of the situation hitting them full force.

It took a few minutes before the were both calm enough to explain what had happened to Changbin, talking over each other and breaking out into high pitched giggles every few seconds as Changbin tried to piece together what they were saying. 

Eventually, he got the message.

“Wait, so you actually have the hots for Minho and screwed up his name because you were nervous talking to him?” Changbin looked incredulous, “The entire world knows Minho has a crush on you, why didn’t you just say something?”

“I really didn’t know,” Jisung’s eyes were on where Minho’s hands still rested on his knees, cheeks pink under his splotchy makeup. “I mean, Woojin said, but I didn’t really believe him, you know? I knew Minho looked at me all the time, but it seemed like wishful thinking to believe that he actually felt something for me.”

“I’ve been trying to talk him out of his crush on you for months because I thought you knew and were blatantly ignoring him!” Changbin groaned, rubbing at his temples. “You two have caused me so much stress.”

“Sorry, Binnie,” Jisung cautiously removed his hands from the chair and softly lowered them onto Minho’s, eyes starry with wonder when Minho let out a panicked giggle.

“Unbelievable,” Changbin mumbled, rolling his eyes as he went to step away. He halted suddenly, “I’m glad you two worked things out, but we do have to go on stage in twenty minutes and Jisung looks a mess.”

“He looks beautiful,” Minho piped up immediately and now it was Jisung’s turn to let out a shrill giggle. “But, yeah, I’ll fix his makeup, sorry.”

Minho was able to finish Jisung’s makeup, but there was no time to salvage his hair, though Minho insisted the bandana looked cute enough that no one would notice.

-

“You’re staring.”

“Yeah? And?” Minho slipped his arms around the waist of the boy on his lap, nuzzling in for a kiss as Jisung giggled, his hands finding their familiar spot on Minho’s shoulders as their lips connected. 

“I’m used to not looking at you when I know you’re looking at me,” Jisung mumbled when they pulled apart, his forehead resting on Minho’s and his fingers slipping around the older boy’s neck to fiddle with his hair. “It’s weird to see you staring and be able to stare back.”

Minho pressed in for another kiss, his voice teasing, “If you’d stared back from the start we could have been doing this a long time ago.”

**Author's Note:**

> thank you as always for reading, sorry that I disappeared, I'm probably going to continue taking longer breaks between posting from now on


End file.
